Nicolas writes in to ask:

“Could you tell me the difference between “PUBLIC DOMAIN” and “LIKELY PUBLIC DOMAIN”? And do I have to request publishing rights to Philip K. Dick Trust?”

Nicolas’s question refers to my Philip K. Dick’s PUBLIC DOMAIN short stories, novelettes and novellas post which is my way of cataloging of all of PKD’s short fiction that is PUBLIC DOMAIN. “LIKELY PUBLIC DOMAIN” is just my way of saying – “this story needs more investigation.” As I find evidence for the falsification of a copyright renewal, a lack of a renewal, and such, I post the evidence that supports PUBLIC DOMAIN status.

You do not have to request rights from the Philip K. Dick estate for anything that is PD. In fact doing so is probably more likely to get you sued (if THIS case is anything to go by).

Let’s take for example Philip K. Dick’s Beyond The Door, a very short story that we talked about in SFFaudio Podcast #122. This story is PUBLIC DOMAIN, available on Gutenberg, LibriVox and I’ve seen a short film version up on YouTube.

You can do anything you like with Beyond The Door, because it is PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Human Is by Philip K. Dick is PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Here is the |ETEXT| (but I should point out the incorrect copyright date there – it should be 1954 not 1955).

This short story was published in the Winter 1955 issue of Startling Stories (which came out and was copyrighted in 1954).

The story’s copyright was not properly renewed. In fact, a falsified renewal was attempted in 1983!

Have a look at this:

Here is the full page:

As you can see by the following scans the claimed original publication above, for Human Is, was falsified:

Startling Stories, Winter 1955 – table of contents (includes Human Is by Philip K. Dick):

Startling Stories, Fall 1955 table of contents (note the absence of PKD):

I know that most people won’t see the point of all this, so let me lay it out for you.

By 1983, the time of the renewal attempt, the agent for the Philip K. Dick Testamentary Trust, could not legally renew stories published in 1954. By 1983 any stories from 1954 would have already become PUBLIC DOMAIN. So when the renewal form was submitted the publication dates for many Philip K. Dick stories (including Human Is) were changed to make them seem eligible for renewal. The Fall 1955 issue of Startling Stories would have had a story eligible for renewal (had it been in there) because it was published in 1955. But the actual issue that the story was really published in, the Winter 1955 issue of Startling Stories, would not have had an eligible story because it was published in 1954.

The renewal was bullshit and Human Is, by Philip K. Dick, is therefore PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Good news everyone! Exhibit Piece, a Philip K. Dick short story first published in the August 1954 issue of Worlds Of Science Fiction, is PUBLIC DOMAIN! The etext is HERE.

Exhibit Piece was protected by copyright at one time. It was not renewed.

This was not known previously as there was a was a fraudulent attempt to renew the copyright. This fact is evidenced by THIS scan of the associated U.S. copyright office renewal form. Here are the highlighted details:

Here is a scan of the table of contents in the TRUE original publication (the August 1954 issue of If: Worlds Of Science Fiction):

The renewal period had already lapsed by the time the bogus renewal attempt.

Here is the table of contents from the December 1955 issue of If: Worlds Of Science Fiction, note the absence of a story by Philip K. Dick in this issue:

Exhibit Piece by Philip K. Dick is PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Also, here’s a |PDF|.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Prominent Author by Philip K. Dick is a PUBLIC DOMAIN short story.

Back in 1983 an application was made to renew the copyright for Prominent Author, a short story by Philip K. Dick. The story’s copyright, however was not renewed in the time allotted. Instead the applicant, Paul Williams, mis-stated the original publication date giving Prominent Author the deceptive appearance of being within the renewal period. This is demonstrably false.

Here is the highlighted detail from the copyright renewal form:

Here is the complete page of the copyright renewal form for RE190631:

Here is the table of contents from the May 1954 issue of IF: Worlds Of Science Fiction (note that it includes Prominent Author by Philip K. Dick):

Here is the table of contents from IF: Worlds Of Science Fiction, June 1955 (note the absence of a story by Philip K. Dick):

Prominent Author by Philip K. Dick is a PUBLIC DOMAIN short story.

Posted by Jesse Willis